Cheap Eat of the Week - Thaicoon and Sushi Bar
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
In my previous career, I traveled almost every week, often by myself. Quickly tiring of room service, I got comfortable eating in restaurants alone. While I occasionally would eat at a steakhouse or a French cafe’, I always felt the most comfortable dining alone at a sushi bar. And since sushi is normally not an inexpensive meal, I took full advantage of my previous employer’s expense account and feasted on sushi several times each month. Once I left their employ, sushi became less and less a staple in my life for shear budgetary reasons. Lately, I’ve also been left disappointed by some of my local sushi favorites regarding the quality and freshness of the fish. Well, I have a new favorite sushi restaurant.
On a recent Tuesday evening, craving sushi and unable to find a partner in crime, I did a quick search online for sushi deals in Atlanta on Tuesday nights. A few places popped up, but after reading reviews, I settled on Thaicoon and Sushi Bar (http://www.thaicoonsushiatlanta.com) at 1799 Briarcliff Road in the Kroger shopping center where Johnson Road meets Briarcliff Road. I walked in and asked for a solo-seat at the sushi bar. I was promptly seated and given a hot towel to clean my hands. The server gave me a regular menu that also features many Thai favorites, as well as a separate sushi nigiri and mini-roll menu on paper with a pencil to complete my order. The paper list constitutes their $1 sushi list for Monday and Tuesday nights. This was the list that I ordered from.
I had six pieces of nigiri, two 4-piece rolls and a Singha beer (Thai and my favorite) for a whopping $14.18 plus tip. That’s it. It was a lot of sushi. And the quality was incredible. For most people, tuna is their favorite. I love salmon. I actually don’t like cooked salmon much, but love it raw. I originally ordered 2 pieces of salmon nigiri and a 2 pieces of white tuna nigiri thinking I might order a couple more pieces of salmon. No sir. The salmon was great, but the white tuna was “butter”. Amazing. I had to have more.
I also ordered a J.B. Roll mini-roll that was salmon, cream cheese and scallion. Fantastic! But the biggest surprise was the shrimp tempura roll. I don’t even know why I ordered it. I don’t generally like shrimp tempura rolls, because it seems like they just throw some loose tempura in with the shrimp half the time and it isn’t very good. This was good quality shrimp, nicely tempura fried and served with complementary ingredients, including a sweet glaze on top. Again, normally not a sweet glaze sushi roll eater, but delicious! And all for less than $15. I will be going back soon… even if it is by myself.
- Ashlee Heath, REALTOR
Posted in: Intown Living